Bearing packer



NOV. 22, 1938. F, Gl WELKE v 2,137,659

BEARING PACKER Filed Nov. 2.5, 1956 Patented Nov. 22, 193@ 'enamoro PACKER Ferdinand G. Weihe, Sanl Francisco, Calif., asf signor to Shell Development Company, San Francisco, alii., a corporation of Delaware l Application November 23 t claims.

This invention relates to the art oi lubricating bearings 'and in particular to a device fr'paclnng roller bearings, ball bearings and the like with a, semi-solid lubricant. f As is welllrnown, roller bearings' consist of a hollow body in the form of. a'ringhaving equally, spaced rollers held thereon by means of a retain-v ing ring or cage. Ball bearings 'are often ci sirrjii-A lar. construction, but have balls instead of rollers. .In the past, it has' been the practice' to lubricat'e certain of these bearings by means of grease or semi-solid lubricant. ille usual method has been to vattempt to work this grease in betweenv the l body and the cage, but as will lie-apparent this can only be done inefiectively. in the case oi automobile iront wheel bearings, this has often resulted in damage owing to lack of lubricant under severe weather conditions. It has also beenI suggested to lubricate these bearingsby means of various packers, but these have not proved entirely satisfactory. 1

It is a principal object of this invention tofprovide a simple device for forcing the lubricant into the space between the rollers oa-i: roller bearing, or similar bearing.' The further objects and advantages of myV invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. from the following detailed description of a speciiic embodiment of the invention throughout which reference is made to the accompanying drawing oi which,

- Fig. I is an elevation partly in se iered form of the device showin in position for servicing. f Fig. II is a plan View ,of the base shown in Fig. I. Referring to Fig. I,l numeral i represents in -general a base having an indented upper surface 2 having a'centrally located `Vwell 3 the purpose. of .which will appear later herein. The upper part of the packer comprises a plunger t having a pad t at its upper end for the application of pressure. The plunger is slidably mounted within a cylindrical guide t having a head l through the center of which the plunger I is free to pass upon a downward pressure being applied tothe pad A spring ii is interposed between the pad 5 and the head l to hold the plunger normally within the guide or casing t.

ction of a preg a roller bearing In operation a roller bearing 9 to which it is desired'toapplylubricant' is rst thoroughly -cleaned andthen the central hole 0f the bearing S'which normallydits tightly on a shaft is filled with the desired lubricant I t and centrally placed The plunger eleyment is next placed upon the L.top of the bearing \f the bearing contactsthe face' t instead of the i336, Serial No.. M3245 t Aas shown in Fig. I and. downward pressure applied with `the palm of the hand to the pad t at the upper end of `the plunger il. The plunger is of such size that it may pass through the hole in the bearing il containing the lubricant it.Y By 5 the downward pressure upon the plunger forcing the plunger into well 3 the lubricant l@ is displaced and, is forced upward through the openrings between the rollers, cage and body member of the roller bearing o as will be apparent to w those skilled in the art. It should be noticed g that the spring il is of suicient strength to' ensure that the bearing does not rise from the base upon the downward movement of the plunger d.

Bvmeans of the well, smaller roller 'bearings M in which the body protrudes more from the cage can be serviced, as the angle of the wall of the well 'is such that the cage is contacted instead of the body. It will be apparent that if the body cage, no lubricant can reach the spaces between the rollers. The cage thus acts as. a seal preventing the lubricant from being forced betweenl the face 2 of the base and the roller bearing. The lower face of the head l is shaped to ensure 25 contact with the rim of the central opening in thebody of a bearing regardless of whether or not the operator positions the plunger and guide in an exactly vertical position over the bearing.

By means of the bearing packer described, it is 3@ possible to readily force lubricant of stiif consistency in between the rollers of the bearing in an expeditious manner. It is more economical to use my device than others on the market for the reason that different bearings can be serviced 35 with different lubricants all with the same packer.

While I have shown a preferred embodiment of my invention, it should be understood that I may make variations thereof within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:`

l. A device for forcing lubricant between the body and cage of a bearing assembly having a central opening comprising: an indented seating member adapted to engage the cage of said bear- 45' ing assembly, a plunger of lessdiameter. than the central opening of said, bearing, and a tubular guide for said plunger adapted to cover.the centrai opening of said bearing assembly.

2. A device for forcing lubricant into the space guide for said plunger adapted to cover the cen# o 4. A' device for forcing lubricant into the space adapted to cover the central opening of saidv bearing and a spring normally holding said plunger within said guide.

between the' body and cage of a'hollow bearing assembly comprising an indented seatingmember adapted to engage the cage ofosaid bearing assembly, a plunger adapted to pass through the central opening of said' bearing assembly, a guide for said plunger, a convex shaped head attached tosaid guide and adapted'to cover the central opening of said bearing, and Ya spring normally holdingv 

